By: Eastern Eye Staff
TWO British Asian men have featured on the list of 36 nominees elevated to the House of Lords.
While Aamer A. Sarfraz, is a social entrepreneur and treasurer of the Conservative Party, was part of the dissolution peerages list, academic Prem Sikka was nominated by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Sarfraz is a venture partner at Draper Associates, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital fund. In 2018, he was named in the Silicon Valley Business Journal‘s “40 under 40” list.
He is an adviser to the Conservative Party on community outreach, and has also been engaged in social welfare initiatives.
Sarfraz is also the founder of Better Grain, an agritech business that supports thousands of smallholder farmers in Asia, with special fpcus on technology-centric farming systems.
Sikka, meanwhile, is a professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield and emeritus professor at the University of Essex.
He had led a Labour-commissioned inquiry in 2018 to analyse the pay of top executives, and recommended that remunerations at the helm of about 7,000 large companies should be subject to an annual binding vote.
Other eye-catching nominees included the prime minister’s younger brother, Jo Johnson, and former England cricket captain Ian Botham.
Jo Johnson had quit as a junior minister last year because he disagreed with his older sibling Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy as he supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum.
In another apparent olive branch to heal Brexit divisions within his Conservative Party, the prime minister nominated former chancellor Philip Hammond, a prominent remainer who was long the target of vitriolic attacks by Brexit supporters.
Botham, who in in the eighties was regarded by many fans as one of its finest all-rounders, was reportedly recognised for his enthusiastic Brexit campaigning.
Most political nominations tilted more towards the Brexit camp, with peerages bestowed on former opposition Labour lawmakers Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart, who as ardent Brexiteers became unlikely allies of Johnson during the referendum.
Another notable nomination that created a buzz was that of Evgeny Lebedev, the British-Russian owner of the Evening Standard and Independent newspapers. He is the son of Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent who became an oligarch.
Lebedev, who has spent most of his life in Britain, is frequently seen in high society circles in London, where he is active as a charity campaigner and patron of the arts. He controversially appointed former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, who had no previous experience in journalism, as editor of the Evening Standard in 2017.
The House of Lords has more than 800 members, and despite perennial complaints that the number is far too high and the nominations process opaque and prone to cronyism, prime ministers from all sides have enthusiastically added to its numbers.
THE FULL LIST
Dissolution Peerages
Nominations from the leader of the Conservative Party:
former parliamentary under-secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Central and former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.
Weybridge and former Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Downs and former minister of state for Policing and Criminal Justice.
state for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.
North East Milton Keynes and minister for the Armed Forces.
Dales, former chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative
Party.
of state for culture, communications and creative industries.
Nominations for the leader of the Labour Party:
Nomination for the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party:
leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages
Work and Pensions Select Committee.
Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.
under-secretary of state for communities and local government.
Birmingham Edgbaston.
Dissolution Honours 2019
Knighthood
Philip May
For political service
Cllr Raymond Puddifoot MBE
For services to the London Borough of Hillingdon
Political peerages
Nominations from the Leader of the Conservative Party:
deputy mayor of London.
and Chelsea Council.
former editor of the Evening Standard.
Development and MP for Stockton South.
director at St James Place and founder of the 30% Club
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Nominations from the former leader of the Labour Party
Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages
Nominations for Crossbench Peerages
and Cofounder and Chair, Institute of Global Homelessness.
and patron of Space for Giants.